Sundance 2026 Movies Sold So Far: A24 Wins Marathon Bidding War for Olivia Wilde’s ‘The Invite’

Numerous buyers were engaged to try and win the rights to the Annapurna film starring Wilde, Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penélope Cruz for an 8-figure deal.

Of the 90-plus films and episodic series premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in 2026, only about a dozen are arriving at the festival with distribution in hand. Many will be looking for homes, but if this year is anything like last year, it may take some time for those sales to close. We’ll be tracking all of them as they come in.

“The Invite”

Section: Premieres
Distributor: A24
Directors: Olivia Wilde
Date Acquired: Jan. 27 
Buzz: This was a true, old-fashioned, late night bidding war between multiple interested buyers that ended up being a 72-hour, marathon competition. IndieWire hears that Neon, Black Bear, Netflix, Searchlight, and Focus Features — and even Warner Bros. at the 11th hour — were all in the mix for what was Olivia Wilde’s third feature as a director. We’re also hearing that the final bidding got into the 8-figure range. Others may have bid more, but Wilde was determined to get a theatrical deal. And it’s fitting too, because this was one of the starrier movies at the festival with Wilde, Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penélope Cruz all leading the ensemble cast. “The Invite” quite simply is about the dinner party from hell when a couple whose marriage is on the brink have dinner with another couple that’s polyamorous, but the crowds that saw it say there’s a lot more layers to this one than just that. Will McCormack and Rashida Jones wrote the screenplay based on a 2019 Spanish film called “Sentimental.” UTA Independent Film Group and FilmNation co-repped the sale, and the film hails from Megan Ellison and Annapurna, who also previously produced Wilde’s debut film “Booksmart.”

“Leviticus”

Section: Midnight
Distributor: Neon
Director: Adrian Chiarella
Date Acquired: Jan. 27 
Buzz: A queer, coming-of-age horror movie? “Leviticus” is about two teenage boys who have to fight off a violent entity capable of taking the form of the other. The film plays on the real-life horrors of conversion therapy and stars Joe Bird, Stacy Clausen, Jeremy Blewitt, Ewen Leslie, Davida McKenzie, Nicholas Hope, Zahra Newman, and Mia Wasikowska. The film’s unique genre premise from writer/director Adrian Chiarella, his feature debut, was good enough for Neon to jump on worldwide rights in a seven-figure deal, as well as the first sale of the festival, an otherwise slow affair thus far, though one that has sparked an early bidding war for at least one other title. “Leviticus” will be released later this year and is actually Neon’s second deal for a horror movie out of the festival, as the distributor also over the weekend joined the next film from “It Ends” director Alex Ullom.

Films Arriving at Sundance with Distribution

“The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist”

Section: Premieres
Distributor: Focus Features
Directors: Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell
Buzz: The “Navalny” director teams up with producer Daniel Kwan (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”) on a film that goes deep into the perils and promise of artificial intelligence, all through the lens of Roher debating whether this is a good moment to bring a child into the world.

“The Brittany Griner Story”

Section: Premieres
Distributor: ESPN
Director: Alexandria Stapleton
Buzz: The director of “Sean Combs: The Reckoning” sits down with Brittany Griner, the basketball star who was famously detained and became the subject of a media and political frenzy as she hoped to secure her freedom.

“Give Me the Ball!”

Section: Premieres
Distributor: ESPN
Directors: Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff
Buzz: More than a sports doc, this portrait of Billie Jean King looks at the tennis icon’s compulsion to hide her sexual orientation and eating disorders.

“In the Blink of an Eye”

Section: Premieres
Distributor: Searchlight Pictures
Director: Andrew Stanton
Buzz: Though he’s directed plenty on TV, Pixar vet Andrew Stanton is returning to a live-action feature for the first time since “John Carter” dropped way back in 2012. “In the Blink of an Eye” is a triptych set in ancient times, modern day, and in the distant future, exploring how those three eras are connected by hope and the circle of life.

“The Moment”

Section: Premieres
Distributor: A24
Director: Aidan Zamiri
Buzz: One of three films starring Charli XCX at the festival, the “brat” pop star plays a version of herself in an exaggerated mockumentary that comments on the idea of modern celebrity.

“One in a Million”

Section: World Documentary
Distributor: PBS/Frontline
Directors: Itab Azzam, Jack MacInnes
Buzz: This documentary was filmed over 10 years and follows a Syrian refugee girl who travels to Germany and then back to Syria with her family.

“Queen of Chess”

Section: Premieres
Distributor: Netflix
Director: Rory Kennedy
Buzz: Perhaps a documentary for “The Queen’s Gambit” fans, this film follows a girl from Hungary who is a chess prodigy trying to break into a male-dominated competition circuit.

“Saccharine”

Section: Midnight
Distributor: Shudder
Director: Natalie Erika James
Buzz: Shudder picked up this body horror film from the “Relic” director just before the festival. It stars Midori Francis as a woman who takes part in a bizarre weight loss craze that involves eating human ashes, only to become possessed by demonic forces in the process.

“Time and Water”

Section: Premieres
Distributor: Nat Geo
Director: Sara Dosa
Buzz: Like her Sundance breakout “Fire of Love” before it, “Time and Water” is a more elevated nature documentary and follows an Icelandic writer eulogizing both a glacier and his grandparents.

“Undertone”

Section: Midnight
Distributor: A24
Director: Ian Tuason
Buzz: A micro-budget horror movie in the vein of “Paranormal Activity” that first played at Fantasia Fest, the actual producers of “Paranormal Activity” helped give the film a new cut and are hoping for another horror hit.